In 17th-century Scotland, pregnancy provided status and authority to married women, demonstrating their capability and respectability as wives. Women who conceived outside of marriage, however, were perceived as threats to neighborhood stability and a stain on the moral community. Following the creation of the kirk session, a male religious body functioning as a church court, by the Scottish Reformation parliament in 1560, early modern Scots had a formal mechanism to investigate the sinful sexual lives of their neighbors. The 17th century saw an unforeseen number of young women dragged before kirk sessions, bodies and behaviors inspected, to determine the existence of illegitimate pregnancy. Marriage was the only way a man could be confident in the paternity of his children; therefore, paternal parentage of an illegitimate child was difficult to ascertain with certainty.
In October 1660, Nance Throw stood before the kirk session of Rothesay, accused of fornication with five men. Being five months pregnant, Nance posed a significant problem to the kirk session – not only was she stubborn in concealing the father, but her assumed sexual history made them suspicious
